


Lost

by NamelessC



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Devil's Nest, Other, Thief!Reader, characters mostly hinted, might be continued one day if i ever get inspired, no actual romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2018-04-13
Packaged: 2019-04-22 11:38:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14307837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NamelessC/pseuds/NamelessC
Summary: On that rainy, gross day as pearls of water clung to your skin and breathing had felt so difficult while trying to keep it on the down-low, fearing to be found out due to the foreboding atmosphere you had been smothered by, you had thought you made your second mistake regarding the strange job that made you who you where.---------Thief!Reader who grew up in the bad part of Dublith. Past not specified nor readers appearance or gender.Gender-neutral pronouns used.





	Lost

**Author's Note:**

> Since I do not know how to specify the rating read this.  
> Character death not specified.  
> Warning for cursing. (Reader does curse as well.)  
> Warning for brief mention of scars and two wounds including minor blood mention.  
> No romantic descriptions. (I apologize. It just didn't seem to fit into it for the time being.)  
> As already noted, Reader is addressed with gender-neutral pronouns, appearance not described.  
> I am saddened that there are so few Greed/reader fanfictions on here. Thus I might continue this if I am ever miraculously struck by inspiration (suggesting ideas would certainly help).  
> Criticism is highly appreciated!

You had lost that day.  
Losing your home, losing your, dare you say it, friends, losing comfort, while fleeing like the cowardly rat you were, amidst the battle all others were fighting, because really, you were no fighter. You were a little thief, have been nothing else all your life.

On that rainy, gross day as pearls of water clung to your skin and breathing had felt so difficult while trying to keep it on the down-low, fearing to be found out due to the foreboding atmosphere you had been smothered by, you had thought you made your second mistake regarding the strange job that made you who you where. Or rather, kept you alive in the streets filled with crime. Naturally, growing up in such a neighborhood produces darkened spirits, you being no exception. Your strange childhood aside, in that moment you have had tried to steal some liquor after you had entered a bar in the back streets of Dublith, trying to find a place to get dry, maybe steal some money too while you were at it since you had been running low on resources for maintaining your own life. Why liquor though, one could have asked. Your ambition had been so simple even a child could have understood it. “I just want to have one good fucking evening.”, you had muttered in a low breathy murmur as you blended into the crowds of sweaty bodies, half of them too drunk to walk straight as they kept bumping into you.  
“Just one. I’m not even asking for more, but I wouldn’t object if I got lucky for once in my damned life.”  
You eyed the shabby bar desk in front of your goal, the shelves full of alcoholic drinks. You had speculated that they might have a depot where they kept their stashes but since this establishment was new to you, and your decision of entering had been spontaneous, you truly did not have enough information to be sure.  
As a more or less practiced person in your field, you didn’t want to risk it.

So you had awaited the departure of the bartender to sneak there, grab some bottles and run for it.  
Everything went well, it really did. No one even seemed to have noticed you.  
Except for the fleeing part.  
That had been the second time ever you had been caught.  
The first time had been surprisingly not as bad as anticipated, you got away with some cuts that would probably always be visible to an extent but it didn’t cost anything else.  
That time though, you would not have been let off the hook that easily.  
Seems like you had lucked out.

Your run ended at the entrance to the building, big arms kept you from getting further, dragged you back into the dark space, through the bar, into a back room.  
Mind frozen you didn’t do anything, did not think, did not even register much around you.  
Interrogation.  
Being stared at as hours upon hours ran by.  
Another man, black-haired, less big and intimidating, seeming furious you had wanted to steal from him, his stuff.  
More people, but why did they give off such a weird feeling?  
Huh, did that one speak to you? Small, bald, fidgeting in place.  
‘You were good. Roa almost didn’t see you.’  
Who the fuck was Roa?  
‘What’s your name?’  
You didn’t have an official name, who cared anyway.  
‘Are they even there, or did you break them already?’  
Not broken, just done. You didn’t bother to answer. Whatever they wanted to do, they would do.

In your state, mind trying to shut out the panic that had lingered in the corner of your head, you didn’t notice how everything went fuzzy and so, so, comfortingly numb until you woke up hours later in a soft mattress that only slightly poked into your raw back.

Funny how you had that same feeling of trying to keep the chaos overcoming everything at bay as you ran away from the devil’s nest not even a year later, while everyone else undoubtedly fought for him, loyal as ever.  
And you coward ran away.  
But what did you expect?  
You never were a hero to begin with.  
Just some low life human.  
A nameless thief.

 

Of course, you had not seen them die.  
You didn’t know. You didn’t _ever_ know anything.  
After the failed kidnapping attempt you had run away, using some of the rest money you had stolen in the past, you had taken the earliest train to anywhere else.  
You didn’t know exactly where you ended up at but it didn’t matter.  
You bought food.  
And walked.  
Without direction or goal, you kept going, because it really didn’t matter.  
When you were tired you sat down, head tilted up to catch glimpses of the sky filled with clouds. It would probably rain soon if the gray wall was anything to go by.  
So you kept walking.  
Even if it wasn’t possible to avoid the onslaught of tears from above, eventually you found shelter.  
The brown wood of the house that was surrounded by lush trees as well as green bushes looked kind of worn, seemed to be splintered and torn in places. But you didn’t object. Inspecting it, void of people or signs of life, you declared it as your shelter for an unidentifiable amount of time.  
Maybe until things mattered again.

 

Footsteps.  
Calm and evenly paced, slightly dragging across the dirt as if the person didn’t bother to keep them up in the air for long enough.  
You hid and you listened, because you knew you were good at these things, keeping yourself hidden as if you didn’t exist, listening to others as if your presence wasn’t noticed.  
“Why am I always hungry? This can’t be normal.”  
Slightly raspy voice, presumably male in origin, seeming exhausted.  
“Fuck it, I don’t have that much cash for food. How did you live with this?!”  
Speaking to another person? But there was only one set of steps.  
“You know what. Never mind. Forget I ever spoke to you piss ant.”  
Silence accompanied by the ringing in your ears.  
That was until the clicking of soles picked up again, seeming to inch closer towards the bedroom you had been hiding in, the room visible on the right if one were to enter the front door.  
You panicked, clutching the kitchen knife tighter in your sweaty palms.  
You had learned from your past mistakes, always keep something for self-defense with you.  
But truth be told, you were already stupid enough for not having fled into the woods in the first place. What person in their right mind wouldn’t make a beeline for a safe place? What kind of goddamn idiot were you?-  
They stopped.  
“Thanks for the tip, so you are useful for something after all.”  
Why did it sound so close?  
Why was there no other noise?  
When had you started breathing so heavily?  
Funny how you were still clinging to your life desperately even though it was an entirely pathetic existence in itself.  
The doors to the wardrobe you had been standing in swung open forcefully, as the black haired man spoke, not being able to dodge the swing you tried to make with the knife,  
“Surprise surprise, feisty aren’t we? But sadly for you, that little thing won’t do anything.”  
And in front of your own wide opened eyes, you saw how a grinning person, bleeding from their stomach, lightened up in red sparks as the wound seemed to magically close itself as if it hadn’t been opened by a sharpened blade a moment before.  
Only good for you that this wasn’t the first time you had seen this.  
“Are you a homunculus?”  
“Smart, aren’t we?”  
Your gaze drifted over the man, adrenaline subsiding. Even if he wanted you dead, you could do nothing to defend yourself, so why try? Calmly you eyed the mark on his hand, something itched, a memory that was just out of reach. You knew that tattoo from somewhere. Didn’t the person that had let you live in his weird little gang home had that red mark on his hand?  
The man that was so possessive he took in almost every stranger, including you.  
The homunculus that was so proud to call himself Greed.  
So you spoke out the name, slowly because you were so unsure.  
People didn’t suddenly look completely different. It might be another homunculus for all it’s worth.  
But then, Greed hadn’t really been an ordinary person, had he?  
Didn’t he always use to recite that there’s no such thing as no such thing?

For one reason or another that seemed to be too weird to be an actual origin for this, you ended up sharing some of your food rationing with the other, that suddenly introduced himself as Ling Yao, a Xingese prince, completely ignoring the call out you had made for a very much dead person.  
A sigh escaped his lips. “Ahhhhhh. You saved me. Thank you, friend.”  
He was currently scarfing down the rest of a small pot of cheap ramen-noodles.  
The twentieth the guy had eaten in a row. You tried not to acknowledge the empty bags of whatever else Ling had eaten.  
Normally, you would not have shared anything with a stranger that broke into your property, but you’d be a hypocrite if you filed him for coming to a seemingly desolated cabin for whatever reason and assuming it was empty. Besides the point that it wasn’t even _yours_.  
But one question burned in your mind. You bit your tongue briefly, chewing down on your lips afterward. You needed to know though. Were there more homunculi like Greed out there? Was he maybe still alive? Maybe you could... go back? Silently shaking your head you reprimanded yourself. No, you could not. You betrayed the devil’s nest gang, fled instead of fighting for them. They were the first people to take you in and you might as well have stabbed them in the back.  
“Something up?”  
The black haired xingese came into focus as your gaze drifted towards him. Blinking you rubbed your eyes until brights spots pierced your vision.  
“Aren’t you wondering why I knew you were a homunculus?”  
The smile the other wore didn’t change or twitch one bit, though he shifted, tugging his left leg under the right one.  
“Kind of. I don’t meet people as knowledgeable as that every day. Needless to say, I am curious.”  
“First answer one question please, do you know any other homunculi?”  
His bangs slid over his right eye as he cocked his head, eyes barely visible fixated on you.  
“I do. But I won’t answer any other questions about them.”  
Shoulders heaving you leaned back. “That’s fair I suppose.”

“Well, the short version of it is I knew a guy once who had the same tattoo on his left hand. Told me what it meant and all. I knew as soon as I saw your regeneration though. Somebody once tried picking a fight with.. the homunculus back then. Ended badly for the idiot. The guy I knew was too cocky, getting hurt during the fight. The other saw his regeneration. That person’s dead now. Poor soul.”  
You looked up to the ceiling, pain stabbing your heart.  
“’ was the first time I saw it. Never once again after that.”

You could hear the wind from outside, rustling through the trees, blowing leaves or occasionally twigs against the already dirty, damaged windows.

 

\------------------

“Speak to them.”  
“No. Why the fuck should I?”  
“I saw the memories, Greed. You can’t fool me. Weren’t they a part of your family?”  
The prince tried to keep his calm, exploding on the one in front of him would do nothing but exhaust the teen even more. After Greed had pained himself by killing his friend ruthlessly, storming off attacking King Bradley, his limbs had felt heavy like lead, stiff like iron. He’d love to take a nap but unfortunately, he had to solve another issue. He was glad the homunculus had given up control on his own account, or semi-own account driven by shock, leaving him back in his body without constant struggle.  
The red face, if one would be allowed to call the weird mass by that, gnashed its teeth, eyes seeming to avert despite logically not being able to.  
“I don’t have a family.”  
“Remember how it felt to lose them. Do you wanna live knowing that you left the last one behind? That wouldn’t let you live up to your name anymore. It would dirty the name you go by. It would not be real avarice. Is that really a path persuadable?”  
Ling knew he had hit him if he gouged the feelings overflowing from the other correctly. It seemed like remorse.  
With his real body, he picked up the next cup of ramen, eating them dry was currently favorable over taste due to the sluggish feeling left in his bones.  
“Ahhhhhh. You saved me. Thank you, friend.” His words cut through the air, but his current food-mate didn’t seem to register them. So he probed more, Greed having gone eerily silent.

Your answers only backed up the knowledge he had regarding Greeds and your past. For the time being, all was said. It was not his place to save anything, he had other matters to attend to. He’d need to find Lan fan now that they had cut ties with the other homunculi and get back to Xing as soon as all of this was over, no one could predict how long the emperor held onto his life.  
He’d give Greed two days, telling him to fix whatever there was to fix or get back whatever he _could_ get back.  
After that, they’d move on.  
Ling hoped Greed had learned his lesson. He did not want to be smothered by his guilt for all eternity.


End file.
